TEHRAN, Iran — A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck southeastern Iran late Monday, damaging houses, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, Iranian state TV reported.
The report said the strong quake hit Hosseinabad, a town in southeastern Iran, at 22:12 local time. The area is close to the historical city of Bam, site of a devastating 2003 earthquake of similar strength that killed more than 26,000 people.
“Initial reports indicate that houses in several villages were damaged, but there are no reports of casualties yet,” Hossein Bagheri, the director of Iran’s National Crisis Management unit, said on state TV.
Telephone contacts to the stricken area have been cut off, and relief teams have been dispatched to the area, the TV reported.
Even moderate quakes have killed thousands of people in the past in the Iranian countryside, where houses are often built of earthen bricks.
Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one slight earthquake every day on average.